"Best of" Birthdays Stamp Set

For Stampin' Up's 25th anniversary, they're bringing back some of your favourite stamp images from the last quarter century and combining them into 11 sets.  They will release one set per month through to April 2014. Along with some great classic images, each "Best of" set will also include one never-before-seen image.

This month's stamp set is Best of Birthdays.  Previous months have been Best of Butterflies, Best of Flowers, Best of Shelli & Best of Christmas. Contact me if you want more information, or missed out on seeing the other "Best of" Stamp Sets that you may be interested in ordering.

(Best of Birthdays: Woodmount $31.95 Clearmount $25.95)

Here are a couple of beautiful projects made using this stamp set for a little inspiration.

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Join for $25

{25 year celebration promotion}

From 7-21 October 2013, you can join Stampin' Up! for just $25!

Yes you read right. Just $25!! 

Here's how:

• This offer is only good for two weeks, so take advantage of it right away!
• During this offer, only the special $25 starter kit will be available; the regular $169 starter kit will not be available.
• The $25 Starter Kit includes $26.95 worth of Stampin' Up! product.
• The kit will also include a FREE Business pack which includes: A box of annual catalogues, a package of the current seasonal catalogue, Getting Started DVD, the Starter Kit Business Brick & customer party invitation postcards (valued at $80).

This promotion is perfect for all of my hostesses from the past and in the present, all of my wonderful customers and anyone else who would like to make a little extra money on the side.

One of the biggest perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the 20 per cent discount. As a brand new demonstrator, you will get an extra 10 percent discount on your first order of $300 or more (if you place your order in the first 45 days of being a demonstrator). That means you can use the money you saved on the $25 starter kit to get 30 percent off your first order of Stampin' Up! goodies!

But remember, there is only a 2 week window for this promotion, so if you have questions, if you are considering joining, if you are curious,CONTACT ME ASAP and I can tell you all you need to know!

This promotion provides a wonderful opportunity to join up to a wonderful company that looks after it's demonstrators for some petty cash!

{{Here are a couple of beautiful stamp sets you could choose for $25 - $26.95 when you sign up!}}

"Four You" Stamp Set - Woodmount $25.95

"Creatively Yours" - Clearmount $25.95

"Giggle Greetings" - Clearmount $26.95

"Papillon Potpourri" - Clearmount $25.95

"Beautifully Baroque" - Woodmount $25.95

A little bit of Rag

I like to think of myself as an artistic and creative person all around. I will give most things a go. I'm not good at everything I try either. For example... my drawing & painting skills, are laughable. Other things I have tried out and found out I wasn't too bad at it afterall and continued to practise and become skilled in those areas. 

One artistic skill that you might not know about me, is I have been playing the piano for almost 20 years. I haven't had lessons for a good 10 years though, and that shows in my skills now-a-days because my playing is 'quite' rusty. But I can still sight read a little, so all is good in the world. 

I have a BEAUTIFUL piano. Here she is..

Growing up playing piano, I played all the typical pieces you hear kids playing. Once I hit high school, we moved house, and changed piano teachers. Our new piano teacher was young, and fabulous. She had some seriously awesome taste in music and knew how to pick some music that would kick my butt suited my flamboyant teenage personality. No more boring pieces coming from these fingers! 

One of my first well known pieces to master was Moonlight Sonata, which to this day I can still play as long as I have my sheet music in front of me. I used to think I was pretty special, but I wanted my next piece to have more "bounce". Oh boy, I got bounce alright. Have yourself a little listen to this...

(Courtesy of YouTube)

Believe it or not, I used to be able to play that. I will admit, I could never get the speed up to what he was playing at (and my version was ever so slightly different from what he played), but it certainly became my party trick!! 

Listening to that piece makes me miss my mad piano skills. I might just go have a bang on the old beauty tonight!

What is your hidden talent? I'd love to hear about it!

Winter Frost Inspiration

I love that Stampin' Up! brings out several designer series papers (DSP) in different colours & styles for Christmas. This year they have 2 different sets of DSP, one is Seasons of Style which has the traditional red, green & brown colours in it, and then there is Winter Frost!! This is my favourite set this year. It is silver/grey, aqua/turquoise. The DSP comes in a pack of 12 double sided sheets and they are 12" x 12". Something I love is that they also have the option of a Paper Stack, with both DSP's. It comes in a little rip off pack which is 11.4 x 16.5cm (perfect size for card fronts).

I asked my on Facebook page recently which was everyone's favourite DSP this year, and the clear winner was the 12" x 12" Winter Frost DSP. I too love it and have been starting to experiment with it. 

Project recipe below.

This is the card that we made at Ronda's Christmas Workshop a few Saturdays ago. I love it. Such a lovely combo of colours but as usual, the beautiful DSP is doing all the work here! I have used strips from the Winter Frost Paper Stack for this card. 

When I punched out the ornament from the gorgeous glimmer paper I couldn't throw it out. It is just too pretty and it seemed such a waste. 

Project recipe below.

So I made a matching envelope!!! How sweet does that look? I am loving it.

Project recipe below.

And here is my second card using this beautiful DSP. I CASE'd this card from the Holiday Catalogue, but did change it up a little and used what I had. I can't decide which card I like better, though. They are both so pretty, and so my style of card. 

Which one do you like best?

PROJECT RECIPES:

Christmas Wishes Card

DSP: Winter Frost DSP Stack (#132183), Silver Glimmer Paper (#124005)

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Smoky Slate (#131291)

Ink: Island Indigo (#126986)

Stamp Set: Joy to the World (#131799)

Other: Christmas Ornament Punch (#132152), 2-1/2" Circle Punch (#120906), Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon (#109070), Dimensionals (#104430), Glue Dots (#103683).

Envelope

Cardstock: Smoky Slate (#131291), Silver Glimmer Paper: (#124005)
Punches: Christmas Ornament Punch (#132152), 2-1/2" Circle Punch (#120906).

M is for Merry Card

DSP: Winter Frost DSP Stack (#132183)

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Smoky Slate (#131291), Coastal Cabana (#131302)
Ink: Smoky Slate (#1131179), Coastal Cabana (#131175)

Stamp Sets: Occasions Alphabet (#123598), Evergreen (#127973)
Other: Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons (#127555), Whisper White Baker's Twine (#124262), Silver 1/8" Ribbon (#132137), Dimensionals (#104430), Glue Dots (#103683).

It's time for some Christmas Cheer...

There are only 90 days left until Christmas.  90 DAYS PEOPLE!! It's time to think about Christmas, whether you are ready to or not!! :) 

Last Saturday I did a Christmas Workshop for one of my lovely customers Ronda. With the new Holiday Mini Catalogue (which you can view here) being released, it meant we had access to all the wonderful new Christmas products. 

I demonstrated 2 quick and easy cards both with a Washi Tape theme. One using the Tape It Stamp Set, and the other using the Seasons of Style Washi Tape.

I also showed the ladies another quick card that was very simple. I like it when I can put together a design where I am allowing the beautiful DSP or beautiful stamp set do all the work for me!  Card recipes are below.

Tape It Card

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Baked Brown Sugar (#131301), Cherry Cobbler (#121681), Old Olive (#106576)

Inks: Old Olive (#126953), Baked Brown Sugar (#131174), Cherry Cobbler (#126966)

Stamp Sets: Tape It (#130715, Sweet Essentials (#126457)

Other: Chevron Border Punch (#132154), Season of Style DSP Stack (#132181), Dimensionals (#104430).

Washi Tape Card

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Cherry Cobbler (#121681), Old Olive (#106576)

Ink: Cherry Cobbler (#126966)

Stamp Set: Merry Little Christmas (#131829)

Other: Chevron Border Punch (#132154, Chalk Talk Framelits (#129983), Seasons of Style Designer Washi Tape (#132155), Seasons of Style DSP Stack (#132181), Baked Brown Sugar Ruffle Stretch Trim (#130022), Simply Pressed Clay (#130685), Simply Pressed Clay Moulds (Buttons & Blossoms) (#131272), Baked Brown Sugar Ink Refill (#131163), Dimensionals (#104430).

Merry Little Christmas Card

Cardstock: Gumball Green (#127543, Whisper White (#106549)

Inks: Gumball Green (#126861), Crumb Cake (#126975), Cherry Cobbler (#126966)

Stamp Set: Merry Little Christmas (#131829)

Other: Whisper White Bakers Twine (#124262), Seasons of Style DSP Stack (#132181), Neutral Designer Buttons (#130031), Dimensionals (#104430).

Mother Daughter Date Night Recap...

On Friday night was our first ever Mother Daughter Date Night Card Making Class. I have been wanting to introduce some variety into the types of events I put on to appeal to different people and their interests. This was one of my first ideas that I have rolled out and I am so glad I thought of it. 

We had 7 lovely people come along. 3 sweet little girls and 4 adults. As part of the evening I did a demonstration to show how quickly you can throw together a beautiful card.  All 3 little girls were my trusty assistants and helped me ink up my stamps, clean the stamps on the Stampin' Scrub (#126200), and stamp some of my images. Here is the card I demonstrated.

Card recipe below.

The next thing we did was interactive and fun. I brought out all of my favourite punches, and laid them out on my kitchen bench, and had lots of pieces of cardstock for everyone to choose from. Everyone punched out shapes from all the different punches, and put their punchies in baggies to take home and experiment with! The little girls loved this the most. They were busily punching out love hearts and birds and flowers with all the pink & purple cardstock!

After a game, we did our Make & Take project!

Card recipe below.

This card was made using just ink & cardstock, and one image needed to be punched out. It meant that it was easy for all the different skill levels of my guests but there was plenty of room for personal flair & creativity. Some of the cards of the younger girls were so adorable. They of course made the card their way, and I wish I had thought to take a picture to show you! 

I am hoping to do two Mother Daughter nights a year from now on. The next class will be in the New Year! 

BUTTERFLY CARD

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Smoky Slate (#131291)

Ink: Smoky Slate (#131179), Primrose Petals (#126858), Blushing Bride (#131172)

Stamp Sets: Off the Grid (#130736), Papillon Potpourri (#123759), Gorgeous Grunge (#130517), Four You (#130538)

Punches: Extra Large Oval (#119859), Elegant Butterfly (#127526)

Other: Primrose Petals Stitched Satin Ribbon (#126844), Large Rhinestones (#129324), Basic Rhinestones (#119246).

FLOWER CARD

Cardstock: Whisper White (#106549), Strawberry Slush (#131300)

Ink: Raspberry Ripple (#126859), Strawberry Slush (#131178), Gumball Green (#126861), Summer Starfruit (#126991)

Stamp Sets: Betsy's Blossoms (#126006), Four You (#130538)

Punch: 1" Circle Punch (#119868)

I love Mini Muslin Bags!

I love these little bags. They are so cute, so versatile and so user friendly!  

It costs $16.95 for 8 bags. They are stampable, 100% cotton with a drawstring 

closure (10.2 x 14cm). They can be found in the new Holiday Catalogue here.

Here is a whole bunch of beautiful ideas that I found of how to use them!

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My green glass collection

I love green glass. My love of green glass stems from my love of green. My house has green dotted all over it. Lucky my hubby has a love of green also.

A couple of years ago I bought the large lime green jug on the left in the picture above on a whim. I just loved it. It was green, gorgeous, and I had to have it.

And then shortly after buying my first item of green glass, I saw this photo on Pinterest.  And I knew I had to start my own green glass collection.

Ever since then I have been on the lookout for more. 

I love the piece above. It's the darkest piece in my collection and I found it in an Op Shop for only a few dollars.  My favourite kind of find!

My aim with my collection is to have quite a variation in colours, sizes, shapes etc. I don't want my collection to just consist of bottles, jugs & vases.  I am on the lookout for pretty much anything green!

Recently we got a new dining suite and I'm so pleased to have a special place for all my green glass to live now, right under my green collage fabric canvas! 

Do you collect coloured glass? 

Or maybe you collect something else. 

What is it?

A tutorial: How to make your own Woodmount Case Covers

First and foremost, have you heard about the *NEW* Woodmount Cases? 

They are fabulous! It means that you can now change over all your woodmount stamps from those dinky plastic cases to these awesome cases.  They are the same design as the clearmount cases (similar to a DVD case) but are alot deeper, to accommodate a woodmount stamp. The price is excellent, at only $11.95 for a pack of 4 cases, which works out to only $3 a case.  BUT, there is a downside. No sticker or case cover which has the name of the stamp set on it. But do not fear, you can just make your own case cover!

So here we have the before.  A stamp set in a new case, but with nothing there to identify it. Now to make your own cover.

Using Whisper White cardstock (#106549) cut it to 15.9cm x 17.8cm.  And then score it on the longer side at 3.3cm. 

Using your Brayer (#102395) ink it up with your Wild Wasabi ink pad (#126959). I used another piece of cardstock to mask along the top about 3.5cm down. Run the brayer up a few times until you're happy with the colour intensity and coverage. 

Next, using your Alhambra Jumbo Wheel (#126940), ink it up with your Gumball Green ink pad (#126861) and run it across the green strip. 

Next, using your StazOn ink pad (#101406) stamp the images of the stamp set onto the front cover.  I am making a cover for my Perfectly Penned stamp set (#128703). 

Now to add the name of the stamp set to the cover across the top and also on the side spine. I used my new Simply Serif Alphabet (#126360) mini stamp set, once again using StazOn black ink. 

And then put it in the plastic cover, put in your stamp set and you're done!

How great does it look! I have about 10 that I have made up so far, and I love them.  Certainly looks better than a boring clear case!